Iowa welfare cases hit 'modern-day' low

The number of Iowa families seeking cash assistance under the state's main welfare program has hit what state officials are calling “a modern-day low.”

Officials who oversee the state Department of Human Services' family investment program (FIP) said Monday the 15,101 cases for July were 72 below the previous low set four years ago, before Iowa began to feel the effects of a 2008 recession that caused the number of people seeking government help to swell.

The August caseload rose to 15,153 but remained below the July 2008 previous low for a second straight month, and DHS officials project monthly drops to continue until June 2014, when they expect the gradual decline to level off, said agency spokesman Roger Munns.

“The improving economy is causing our numbers to decline,” Munns said.

Welfare case loads were topping 40,000 when reforms were put in place in 1996, but the rolls declined steadily as the program was retooled with requirements for qualifying participants to pursue training, education or work as families made the transition to self sufficiency within a five-year time limit. However, Munns said FIP participation began to increase in August 2008 as an international economic recession gripped the state and the nation and rose sharply until the numbers began falling again last year.

“We saw a pretty good uptick in the case load and many of those people were new to DHS, new to the welfare program – newly poor, if you will,” said Ann Wiebers, chief of the DHS financial, health and work support bureau.

“These are people who had never had to deal with asking for help. They also tended to have longer work experience, maybe a higher set of skills than our base FIP recipients, and so as the economy has improved, my assumption is that those people have been able to find jobs,” she noted. “People who came on during the recession have been able to get off, so FIP was there as the safety net that it is to help people during those temporary situations.”

According to DHS officials, 76 percent of FIP recipients are one-parent families, while 6 percent include both parents, and 18 percent of FIP households provide care to children of relatives. The average FIP family receives assistance for 22 months and is headed by a single Caucasian woman between 20 and 29 years of age with a high school or GED education.

While FIP cases dropped to 15,101 two months ago compared to 15,173 in July 2008, the number of recipients was higher reflecting larger families and the payments increased from $4.82 million in July 2008 to $5.05 million two months ago for the same reason, Munns said.

July 2008

• Total FIP cases: 15,173
• Recipients: 37,892
• Payments: $4,820,673
• Average cost: $317.71

July 2012

• Total FIP cases: 15,101
• Recipients: 39,073
• Payments: $5,050,619
• Average cost: $334.46